Hua Yigang: Playing Go with Zhuang Zedong

I have played a lot of coaching chess in my life, but the most played is undoubtedly Zhuang Zedong. Saying to friends, I think it is incredible, and I can only express "willing to hear more about it."

Zhuang Zedong

　　One day in 1968 or 1969, Zhuang Zedong came to my dormitory, hoping to learn Go from me. Zhuang Zedong is a famous person, winning three world championships, and it is said that other laurels are more than the sum of the various championships in the team at that time. And I'm just a young Go player who doesn't have much of a name for himself. However, with my training bureau age, it is not surprising that Zhuang Zedong can find me. However, when the hero of the dream suddenly appeared in front of him, that kind of flattery, that kind of uneasiness, is almost vividly remembered to this day.

　　Without a few words of greeting, without more polite words, Zhuang Zedong went straight to the subject. He saw that some of the members of the ping-pong team played Go, aroused interest, and through looking and asking, even if it was a beginner. "Then did you go down with them?" I have to know the basics. "They're too young for us to play together." It seems that the age and generation gap hinders the communication of the same team. Although it is reasonable, the idea of directly finding a professional teacher is also strange enough. "Then how are you going to learn?" Finally gradually entered the theme. "Let's go down." Zhuang Zedong's inadvertent words became the beginning of our two years of guiding chess.

　　The first set is for the 9 sons to play. He didn't seem to be strong enough, and he lost. In terms of his experience in learning chess, this is normal. What surprised me was the speed with which Zhuang Zedong fell. The general situation is to take a long exam and get started quickly. When encountering frequent long examinations, the helplessness of getting started, the hands are all understood. And Zhuang Zedong's speed of playing chess is almost the same as mine, which is rare. The next innings lasted about twenty minutes. As is customary, I proposed a review, hoping to make him progress faster, which is also polite. "Is it to play the chess game again?" Your memory is so good, you still remember it. Zhuang Zedong obviously did not understand what is called replay, nor did he understand the basic skills of getting started: "Anyway, I can't understand it, I want to stop the next plate." So I went on. In fact, from the first time, the guidance mode is fixed as one plate after another, never re-examining, and this is in line with the students' own requirements. Such a student, I have never met a second in my life.

　　Zhuang Zedong asked me to play chess, initially after dinner. Usually about 2 hours, 3 to 4 rounds. Later, his chess addiction became more and more serious, and he wanted to play during his lunch break. And I have long developed the habit of taking a lunch break, which is a bit contradictory. At that time, the lock of the dormitory was the lock hanging on the door, and if there was a padlock on the door, you would know whether there was anyone in the house. Zhuang Zedong knocked on the door, of course I knew who it was—no one was looking for me at this time. "Take a nap!" You have to resist it with half-truths and half-truths. "Just one game." But as soon as I opened the door, I knew he was fooled – he was wearing sneakers, a sweatshirt and, most importantly, a bath bag! He lost one set and, as usual, wanted to play the second set. "Then you can perform drilling the table." I also have to find a little "compensation". "Okay, no problem." The words came out before they could be heard. I know that ping-pong games punish popular drill tables, and young players are even able to drill small tables in the aisles of hard sleeping cars of green-skinned trains. Even if I ask for compensation, I have to "go into the countryside and follow the customs". Of course, there are also times when I lose. "Who let the teacher drill the table?" I made a clever move to use the perverted reasoning of the dignity of the teacher. "No drilling, just the next inning." However, this second innings, drowsiness is gone. I don't know how many rounds it was, but I heard the wake-up bell. "Let's train." When I urged him, he said, "Don't worry, let's go a little longer." Until the collection bell rang, I saw him pick up the bath bag, and the "whizz" disappeared in the doorway. In this way, in the next two or three years, a full two or three hundred innings were played.

　　It is widely rumored in the sports world that Zhuang Zedong is often practicing a day or two before a major game. He was of great physical fitness, like a tireless cow. According to his good rival Zhang Xielin, the team's 3,000-meter run test, Zhuang Zedong often won the bid. In his later years, during the recovery period from cancer surgery, push-ups could still be done for seventy or so! It is generally believed that in addition to Zhuang Zedong's proficiency in forehand attacks, his backhand pumping power is unparalleled. Obviously, repeated honing is the guarantee and premise of his skill. Zhuang Zedong is likely to try to transplant his successful experience in playing ball to playing Go. It turns out that interlacing is like a mountain, and low-level repetition cannot bring about a substantial increase in level.

　　Played so many chess pieces, all of them let 8 or 9 zi, and never let go of 7 zi. But the actual level of Zhuang Zedong is much higher than this. Football star Rong Zhixing is also a super Go enthusiast, the three brothers of the family are from elementary school chess, the younger brother Rong Jianxing and I in the 1962 Children's Games, and later became a professional chess player and an outstanding cadre in the chess world. Rong Zhixing famously said: "When I arrived in Beijing, I didn't go to the Training Bureau (later the Chinese Chess Academy) to play chess, then this trip was in vain." "When I finally had the opportunity to arrange for Zhuang Zedong and Rong Zhixing to play chess, I was shocked. Because I let Rong Zhixing, the 5th son, and Zhuang Zedong, the 8th and 9th sons, completely match the opponent, the strength of Bo Zhong, the next two are happy and addicted. Since then, when I introduce the chess friends of the 5 sons to play against Zhuang Zedong, they are all divided into first (commonly known as pairs).